The present invention relates generally to pressure sensor packaging, and more particularly to a method of assembling quad flat no-lead (QFN) pressure sensor packages.
Pressure sensors and pressure sensor packages are well known and come in a variety of sizes and configurations. Pressure sensor dies typically have a thin differential pressure-sensing membrane that is susceptible to mechanical damage during handling and packaging. For this reason, these sensor dies are typically mounted in pre-molded packages and then sealed in the packages using a separate cover or lid.
One way of packaging the pressure sensor dies is mounting the dies to a premolded lead frame and encapsulating the die with a mold compound. However, dies such as piezo resistive transducer (PRT), parameterized layout cell (Pcell) and Gyro do not allow full encapsulation because that would impede their functionality. As a result, a metal lid or cap must be placed on a mold wall to protect the dies from the outside environment. In addition, pre-molded lead frames are relatively expensive, making the overall packaging costs unattractive.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to be able to efficiently package pressure sensor dies in which the risk of environmental damage to the pressure sensor die is reduced or eliminated while reducing the overall packaging costs.